SE Unable to Rally in Loss at UTEP

EL PASO, Texas – Anton Cook led all scorers with 19 points, but Southeastern was unable to pull off the upset against Division I Texas-El Paso, falling 80-73 on Sunday afternoon in El Paso, Texas.
 
The Savage Storm will square off against D-I opponents twice more before kicking off the regular season, taking on Oral Roberts at 7 p.m. on Nov. 2 and then Texas State on Nov. 5 at 4:30 p.m.
 
Cook finished the contest going 5-for-14 with a pair of threes and added a 7-of-8 performance from the free throw line.
 
Tyler Lonzie added a 6-of-7 performance from the floor and went 2-for-2 at the line to finish with 14 points.
 
Marti Fonolla added 10 points off the bench, while Jett Jobe chipped in nine and Kevin Buckingham finished with eight.
 
Jobe added a team-high five assists while James Donelan dished out four.
 
The Storm finished the night shooting 47.3 percent from the floor and added seven threes as a team.
 
Donelan and Jose Libanio led SE with seven rebounds each with Cook next in line at four.
 
Southeastern tied the game three times and forced seven lead changes.
 
SE scored first and opened the game on a 14-4 run capped by a Jobe three and a pair of Cook free throws to go up by 10 points at the 16:04 mark.
 
The Storm held the lead until the Miners tied the game at 18-18 with 11:31 to go in the half.
 
The teams would trade the lead back and forth with SE taking its last lead of the half at 43-42 on a Buckingham three, but UTEP would score the final four points of the half and the Storm trailed 46-43 at the break.
 
Southeastern came out matching its first half intensity and would regain the lead on a Cook jumper in transition to go up 52-51 at the 14:59 mark of the half.
 
However, UTEP would regain the lead and the Storm would be unable to regain it and pulled off a 13-3 run to go up 64-55 with 8:23 to play.
 
The deficit would grow as large as 11 points, but SE recovered and trimmed the gap down to six points on a Cook three with 2:43 to play, but that was as close as it would get as the Miners would hold off a Storm rally for an 80-73 win.